Software Company manages over $100 million of time, 'Solution. Not eye candy' - CEO.

New Zealand owned and operated company ProActive Software Ltd showed the world their maturity last week when their time management software, ProWorkflow, reached a million hours, over 500 working years, under management.

Julian Stone, CEO of ProActive Software Ltd, said the achievement was 'huge' by any standard. The software, manages more than one hundred million dollars worth of time for businesses worldwide.

Since inception, ProWorkflow.com has grown in typical entrepreneurial fashion from a simple programme to become a complete online solution for managing companies, projects, time, information and assigning work to staff or contractors which have been developed for use in 100,000 projects in 20 countries across the world.

"As a web based solution, ProWorkflow can be accessed by the entire team, from anywhere. Instead of using paper systems, Excel or Word docs, an entire team can use the ProWorkflow system to collaborate on projects in one place. Reporting is live so an overview can be seen at any time." Stone said.

And, for Stone, achieving their milestone could not have come at a better time.

While IPO, XERO, launched their online accounting product Xero.com last week after raising $15 million in a public float, ProActive Software were quietly celebrating the tracking of their millionth hour.

"ProActive Software's core solution ProWorkflow, like XERO, has a global focus with a local base.We too believe it's possible to create a global business from New Zealand. After selling globally in the US, UK and Australia for the past few years, we've proved that smart kiwi companies can make headway into the global market."

ProWorkflow.com have seen growth across the world, but have remained quiet achievers.

However, it is hard to stay a quiet achiever when you are providing solutions to some of the worlds biggest household brands.

The simple fact ProWorkflow managed to succeed, do it well and compete, is no miracle according to Stone.

He sites the attention to detail, and working with real customers live on the system during ProWorkflow's development coupled with a real desire to create solutions as essential for any start up wanting to grow.

With this milestone achieved Stone has reflected on the success of the ProWorkflow product and with the market changing rapidly, almost daily, he believes ProWorkflow will stay ahead of new start-ups: hard yards are necessary in the software as a service (SaaS) space.

"I came to the conclusion that whilst having money to throw at the problem is helpful, there is no substitute for time on product evolution and customer driven development. Sometimes time matters more than money. The ProWorkflow tool was developed over 4 years by a team dedicated to solution perfection not product perfection. I say solution as it needs to solve real world problems. Otherwise it's nothing more than eye candy."

ProWorkflow has been innovative in it’s approact to project and time management. They are among leaders innovating the entire software service industry as part of a move Stone says will weed out companies which lack credibility or have no tangible services.

As part of the SaaS model, customers rent the software and always have the latest updates, innovations and services. This saves more time for customers by removing the need to periodically update their systems, and for IT staff to apply updates.

"ProWorkflow helps teams run smoother, allowing management to know what's going on, and staff to be more efficient in managing work and tracking time. The solution is licensed on a monthly basis and hosted on ProActive's dedicated servers," Stone said.

"The SaaS business model for business applications is still a relatively new concept in New Zealand, although it has been proven offshore. This is the way the software industry is headed. Downloadable applications are beginning to lose market share to hosted applications as the SaaS market matures."

Over the four years it took to develop ProWorkflow the pressure on businesses to save time has grown and along with it ProActive Software Ltd. ProActive Software uses the ProWorkflow tool to run the business.

For many customers, like New Zealand Media company HotHouse communications, time is money so time became ProWorkflow.

HotHouse communications have up to 15 staff working on their projects and often use outside contractors.

Director John Bullock said using ProWorkflow during the last three years had added an edge to the running of projects making "everyone more efficient in their work".

He had seen marked improvements in managing his project schedules since using ProWorkflow and credits the customer centric-approach for developing a flexible tool that can be configured to suit a particular situation without large customization costs.

"We were looking for a system that tracked time against projects ... (ProWorkflow) was a very accurate and easy way of doing that.”

"It is very good for tracking different parts of a project and bringing it all together."

Bullock also credits ProWorkflow for increasing the accuracy of billing and detailing reports to clients.

He conservatively projected a gain of 10-15% for his business since using ProWorkflow and saw it as an essential tool to anyone in New Zealand's highly competitive business environment where increasing productivity was essential to survival.

"It's like having a hot and cold tap in your house really ... these tools are essential to the running of a business," Bullock said.

The journey has been arduous but educational. Stone has taken to passing on advice and business tips through his blog www.juilian101.com in an effort to help others learn from his own experiences.

The company is now mature and continues to evolve with the market. Stone is certain new and exciting developments will continue to keep ProWorkflow at the leading edge of business solutions and a leader in SaaS.